Chef Jeff visits JIFF

Celebrity Chef and New York Times Best Selling Author, Chef Jeff Live joined JIFF Memphis students to dish up dinner and life skills as part of a cityCURRENT Signature Breakfast Series Reception presented by Baptist Memorial Health Care. Here is some of the article and pictures provided by cityCURRENT:

“When you’re born into poverty, you’re born into the problem. You don’t have a choice. We have to fix that pipeline,” said Chef Jeff. The country’s youth recidivism rate is over 75% and with JIFF’s consistent effort in providing opportunity for these at-risk youth, their rates are in the 20-30% range.

After cooking up dinner and life lessons with the JIFF youth, Chef Jeff spoke about his past and what prepares at-risk youth for a positive and productive future.

Chef Jeff cited surrounding himself with smarter people than him, becoming culturally intelligent, and becoming a knowledge jacker was all part of keeping the eye in the prize.

Jeff also explained that those who grow up in poverty are visual learners. They need to be mentored by individuals who are successful so they have role models to look up to.